Brendan's Struggle
by BlackMH
Summary: This is his battle, no one elses. No one, absolutely no one must interfere. The only thing that can stop him is himself. The only thing he fears is himself... Very Light hoennshipping. Rated T for blood and language. Completed!
1. My choices

Brendan's Struggle

By Black Murder Heavangelon

Author's note: ...um, I don't have much to say except, there will be light hoennshipping in this story. But it's very light so please read on.

Was there really any point? Why should he continue? He already has the world's strongest pokemon, and he has defeated every trainer in Hoenn. At first, Wallace was a struggle to defeat, but he managed to beat him. Steven was more of a challenge, but in the end, he was no challenge at all. No matter how hard the gym leaders trained their pokemon, they could never defeat him. He was virtually undefeatable. People say that there could only be one person who could defeat him, and that was himself. But that's not likely to happen, would it?

The trees were still, the sky was bright, and the moon was shining upon the night-shaded land. He watched as the few clouds present in the sky stroll along in the atmosphere above him. There was no reason for him to continue, he had done it. He had defeated the champion and former champion. He turned his head to see his beloved pokemon; the one pokemon that means the world to him, who was watching the moon as well.

He was a blue monster-like fish with orange cheek whiskers, two parallel fins on his head that lined his orange eyes, a bright blue underbelly, orange elbows, and a fin-like tail as big as a table in height. He was a Swampert, Brendan's first pokemon, nicknamed Riverbank. However, unlike other Swampert, this one had a purple hue where the blue normally is and the fins and orange spots had a purple tint in them. This hue seemed to give off a light of its own, which is why they called these pokemon 'shinies'. Being his first pokemon, he had experienced all of the pain his trainer had felt during his travels, and sooner or later, they would take an effect on him.

He turned his view to see his other pokemon, also looked at the moon, that was the first wild pokemon he caught.

He was as big as a house, which is common for most species, and had silver colored horns, a big grey tail, silver armor-like portions on his shoulders and ankles, and lines on his body depicting the hardness of the armored monster. It was his Aggron, nicknamed Titanium. Titanium's silver armor gleamed in the moonlight providing a source of light for the group. Titanium never liked friends, he knew too well how risky putting trust in friendship is, besides, and he wouldn't let it happen again.

Next to Titanium was a stiff green bird with observing eyes watching the moon as well, two red feathers on its head, colored white wings with black and red markings at the end of the wing, and thin feet consisting of only two toenails; one at the front and one at the back. It was his Xatu, known as Winged Neo to him. Winged Neo always looked at stuff like he was examining them, but he knew all Xatu does that. Winged Neo was weird among his species, and therefore was called a mental freak. He has a right to express his opinions, but no one is willing to listen.

Above Winged Neo in the trees was a white haired tree nymph with his hair covering the cranium and his whole back. He had yellow eyes, wood like skin and fan-like hands made of leaves. The one pokemon that looked the most like him, Shiftry, nicknamed Blackheart. Blackheart's white hair always got to him about the hair color between him and Blackheart. He was created for egg move purposes and that hurts him. He was made for one purpose, to serve his trainer. But what really hurts is how obedient he is. Blackheart knew its better to exist one way then not existing at all.

On the tree Blackheart was standing on was a big beetle sucking sap out of a tree. She was blue with a great horn on her head rooted next to two antennae holding small receptors. Hyper was her name, his Heracross, and her nickname does not express what hyperactivity Hyper may have. Hyper could not understand the world around her. It was too brutal. She had seen her fair shares of fatality, and she could never survive in such a world. But no one knows her reasons for staying alive.

He looked forward to see where his other pokemon was. There he was, all alone, looking at the moon in deep regret. He was dead to the world, nothing could change his mind about that. He wasn't needed here, but his trainer needed him. He's been thinking about it recently, about what would his purpose be if he succeeded? But did he succeed? He wasn't so sure. He was still alive, and that was enough proof. His existence meant failure, and his true failure was from existence. He shouldn't be alive, but he couldn't do anything about it. He was immortal, and his own blessing was his suffering.

He was one of the most unique legendaries of the world. He was a blue dragon type with blue, jet-like wings at both sides. Where his legs should be were replaced with figments of what seems to be feathers. Half of his body was colored white and blue; white below and blue on top. His arms were small, but big enough the ensure battle and other possible activity. There was a hollow red triangle on his chest and his eyes were colored red in the iris. He was his first legendary, the Eon pokemon, Latios.

He knew Latios was thinking about his past and his memory, but there was no way he could help. But that was no problem, he never needed help. He knew everything about pokemon thanks to his father and his will for adventure thanks to his mother. But he had the most suffering among everyone, even his own pokemon. They could never level up to the pain he went through. And helping will only make them suffer more, which is why they must never know. He began the problem, now he has to fix it. But if there's one thing he'll never admit is that he's afraid. Survival is the only thing he can do in this world, and he is threatening it. He's the only person he's afraid of, and his pokemon obey every order because they know what he's capable of.

'I shouldn't be afraid, I'm the champion!' he thought, 'I'm Brendan Birch, and I have nothing to fear…'

'…but fear itself,' thought someone else.

His eyes shot in shock as he sat up and looked around. He was close, very close, and there's no running away. He was coming, he's come for his suffering. He lied back down with a determined face with thoughts of encouragement in his head.

'You may have been the cause of my suffering throughout my whole life, but now I want to end it,' he thought, 'I'm Brendan Birch, and no doppelganger can change that. I hope you're ready…'

He reached into his bag and pulled out the weapon. In his hands was a weapon of sheer death, a weapon that could end life in the blink of an eye, a weapon that can take life, love and dreams away; the perfect weapon…

'…because I'm ready to end it,' he said as the moonlight glistened upon the gun…


	2. My suffering

One more chapter to go. In this chapter, we'll see a why Brendan's pokemon have been 'struggling'. This is the longest chapter I've typed, so don't be surprised if you see a mistake.

Brendan's Struggle (part II)

By Black Murder Heavangelon

'Today is the day I'm gonna end it,' he thought, 'no more pain, no more suffering, just one pull of the trigger will make it go away…'

"Hey Brendan," a voice from behind said, "you okay?"

Brendan turned around to see his Swampert snap him back to reality in worry. He turned back and continued walking.

"Yeah, I'm fine," he said.

The rising sun of the next day wouldn't be enough to change his views. His pokemon were walking by him as he led them to the next destination of his choice. However, there was nothing more to do in Hoenn anymore, so Brendan really had nowhere to go. He wouldn't return to his hometown; he likes being alone. So most of his walking is used for his mental alone time; the pokemon tag along outside of their pokeballs in case he's attacked and to intimidate any foolish trainer thinking they can beat him.

"Brendan?" his Aggron, Titanium, asked, "what are you thinking about?"

Winged Neo, his Xatu, shot him a death glare after his question. Brendan's pokemon knew better than to ask of his thoughts when he dislikes nosy people to great extents. Even Winged Neo knew better than to dare take a peek into her trainers mind. But as much as she respects her trainer's privacy, she's been feeling some discharge coming from Brendan at times. Sure, a little sympathy for their trainer couldn't hurt, but Brendan never needed sympathy, he pities sympathy.

"I'm thinking of…a certain person," he answered.

"Like whom?" his Swampert asked, feeling it was someone familiar.

"…someone that's still a part of me, in a way," he answered, "someone who went away when I least expected it and who's been my reason the whole time…"

Swampert felt his assumptions were correct. He was thinking of someone, but he feels like he shouldn't mention her name for some reason. If she means a lot to him, then why would he keep it to himself? He knew as well as his trainer knew, that he can't stop thinking about her, at least that's what he thought. So if this is the type of matter he believes, then the answer is just some alone time, he thought.

"Do you want to be alone?" Swampert asked.

"…yes. That would be beneficial," he said, "wait for me by that spring over there," he said pointing to the miniature waterfall with a small pool by some trees; the typical pokemon hangout.

He walked into the trees were the light began to weaken. His pokemon stopped following him at that point because it was what he wanted. They walked over to the spring and decided to wait for their trainer to come back from his walk. Winged Neo and Hyper, the Heracross, waited on the trees nearby, Titanium and Blackheart, the Shiftry, laid down for some rest, Swampert waited by strolling around in the water, and Latios sat on top of the waterfall looking at the sky.

"So Swampert," Winged Neo asked, "who was Brendan thinking about?"

Swampert pulled his face out of the water to reveal some kelp in his mouth and spoke.

"Phee phas phinphin phout phay," he said through the kelp.

"Don't speak with your mouth full!" Winged Neo said.

Swampert swallowed the kelp and repeated.

"I said, he was thinking about May, a trainer he met long ago."

"So, what's she like? And how do you know about her?" she asked.

"Sometimes, when Brendan needed someone to talk to, he'd talk to me about any problem he had. He told me all he knew about May, so from what I heard, she's a kind and caring girl."

Winged Neo looked away and pondered for a moment. No longer interested in the subject, she decided to change it.

"Brendan's been acting kinda weird lately," she said.

"What kind of weird?" Swampert asked.

"Weird for our trainer. He's not acting like himself. I wonder if something's bothering him," she said with worry.

Swampert then recalled the weapon Brendan had a few months ago. It was when Team Aqua and Magma were seriously at it in trying to awaken the titans. When he defeated a grunt and knocked him out cold, Brendan took a gun that was in his pocket and kept it for that day just in case things got a bit messy. The mess was over soon, but he still kept that gun. If Brendan's still holding that gun…

"I'm gonna go look for Brendan, he should be back by now," Swampert said getting out of the pool.

"I'm gonna help," Winged Neo said, "I have a better eyesight from above."

"Hyper, your coming?"

Hyper removed her mouth from the sap-soaked tree hole and said.

"Sure, I'm pretty full now, so I got nothing better to do."

"Titanium, we're gonna need your help too, whether you like it or not," Swampert said.

Titanium lifted his body enough to shoot a glare at Swampert and grumpily get up. Swampert turned to Blackheart.

"Blackheart, you stay and keep watch," he said.

"Got it," Blackheart said as he lazily raised his hand in agreement.

"And Latios," he said turning to the Eon, "you just keep doing what you're- hey! Where'd he go?"

Latios had disappeared from the spot he was last seen in. He left way before Swampert and Winged Neo's ended their conversation.

"He's gone…" Swampert said in minor shock.

"Oh well, let's look for Brendan now," Winged Neo said breaking the momentary silence.

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Titanium strolled through the only part of the forest big enough for him to fit in. the trees were high above a distance from Titanium's head. The sunlight shined through the leaves leaving little glints on Titanium's armor. Titanium didn't really want to look for his trainer; but he proved to be a really great friend he can trust. But if there's anyone who knew betrayal, it was Titanium.

'I have to find Brendan. I don't want to betray him. If only I hadn't taken friends for granted back then, he'd still be alive,' he thought.

When Titanium was just an Aron, he had a friend who was an Anorith. The two were childhood friends, always inseparable; they never left Granite cave alone. Whenever one of them was hungry, the other would share his food, even if they couldn't eat it. There friendship would've lasted forever, until…

"_Anorith!" the Aron yelled._

_An Aerodactyl outbreak occurred in Granite cave, pokemon who weren't supposed to be found in Granite cave. They were all hungry, and wanted something prehistoric to munch on. Anorith were the prime prey for Aerodactyl's back then, and just so happened to have been standing there. _

"_Aron!" he yelled as he choked through the Aerodactyl claw that cornered him to the ground. _

_Aron wasn't strong enough to take on three Aerodactyl's, in fact, he wasn't strong enough at all. He couldn't watch his best friend get eaten by three monsters._

"_Aron, help me!" he continued to yell._

_Aron didn't know what to do. The three Aerodactyl's waited to see if he would fight, or run. Aron had come to a decision and chose the one mistake in his life; he ran. He turned the other way and ran as fast as he could away from the cries of terror and betrayal._

"_ARON!" were the last words he heard from his friend, followed by the sound of squawking Aerodactyl fighting over who gets their lunch. _

_He ran as fast he could until he could run no more. He rested for a few minutes until he heard footsteps from afar. They were getting closer and closer…_

"_Oh, cool! An Aron! Ready Marshtomp?" the trainer said._

"_I'm ready!" he heard from the Marshtomp, "Wait Brendan, this Aron looks tired. I think he's been in a rough battle."_

"_Well, in that case, I'll just catch it and heal it at the pokemon center. Sounds good?"_

"_Okay."_

'…and that's how I met Brendan,' he thought.

He was still haunted by the memories of his deceased friend; he couldn't get the image out of his memory. Sure he was the one who ran, but it was still no excuse for him to call anyone friend. He didn't deserve it; he didn't deserve any of it. If he had stayed and fight, at least he would still be alive. But no, he isn't alive, and he wasn't coming back…

"Rock blast!"

He heard the command out of nowhere as five huge boulders shot at him. He destroyed the first boulder with a slash of his claw, the second oncoming boulder with a slash from the second claw, the third with a whip of his tail, the fourth with another claw, and the fifth with a headbutt of his horns.

'Where'd that attack come from?' he thought as he scanned his surroundings for the attacker.

He soon spotted the attacker who was just up ahead on the road he was on. It was a big dinosaur like pokemon with red feathers by it's side, two sickle like claws, big grey skin, a burly two-tipped tail, two eyes separated by red marks that look like eyes, and two sharp fins under the red feathers by it's side.

"Hello dear Aron! Old friend. Just how long have you been missing me?" the pokemon said.

'N-no, he couldn't be…' Titanium thought with horror as the attacker revealed his identity.

"Long time no see Aron, oh wait, you're an Aggron now, aren't you? Well, lucky you! I guess you have been raised by a tough trainer, weren't you?"

"A-Anorith?" he said.

"It's Armaldo now!" he said with great hate.

"But…I thought you were-"

"Dead? Of course I would've been if you hadn't betrayed me!" he said with extreme anger, "when you ran, an ancient power rose from me that gave me the strength to fend myself from the Aerodactyl's you RAN FROM! I thought you were my best friend! Did you really think I would forget such a day?"

"But, how did you evolve?"

"Luckily, I was caught by some white-haired trainer who trained me to what I am today."

'Trainer? With white hair?' he thought.

"I agreed that if I helped him destroy his greatest foe he'd helped me destroy you. Today's the day I take my vengeance upon you. The only forgiveness I will accept is your death!"

"…"

Titanium was too shocked to move. He couldn't have been caught by the same trainer as Brendan; he was the first wild pokemon on his team. But now wasn't the time for questions, it was time to fight, for his life. The Armaldo ran to him with his sickle claws out and ready. It was a fight to death, and he wouldn't lose…

---------------------------------------------

The skies were calm for a spring sky. Winged Neo sensed no change in the weather in the future, but the weather wasn't the only thing she was worried about. The calm atmosphere gave her enough calmness to think back to her past when she was still a Natu. Because she had a strange behavior for a Natu, she did not make many friends. The other Natu like her don't judge others by their looks or behavior, they judged them on the mind, and Winged Neo didn't have much of a great mind to others. In fact, she was an outcast, a hated outcast. No one wanted her so she ran, or flew, away.

When she couldn't fly anymore, she ran into a tribe of Skarmory. She wanted to join them and in time, they accepted her. She still had trouble making friends just because of who she was, until one day, the Skarmory couldn't take it anymore.

"_I swear it wasn't my fault!" a Skarmory said._

"_Enough! It doesn't matter who started it, if both suspects deny, then both are responsible for their treason," said another Skarmory who was bigger and had scars all over it's face. _

_The Skarmory being judged was in an accident where he and Natu accidentally killed a tribe member. It started as a prank to some other Skarmory who has been giving trouble to both pokemon. The prank was simple, push the Skarmory into a pool of water. When the prank had succeeded, the Skarmory was swimming for his life while cursing at the two who he knew would've done this. However, the Skarmory who was a part of the prank pushed a log downhill that led to the pool where the unfortunate Skarmory was drying himself off of. When the log collided, it knocked the Skarmory out cold and into the water, where it drowned. _

"_Natu insisted on the prank!" the Skarmory said._

"_But you pushed the log! I just wanted to push him into the water, not get him killed!" Natu objected._

"_It doesn't matter! It's both your faulty and now, my son is dead. Natu, I hereby banish you from our tribe!"_

"_But…it wasn't-"_

"_OUT WITH YOU! And for you! You backstabbing bastard, you are hereby sentenced to death!" he said as the other Skarmory cheered upon his decision. _

_Natu slowly walked away from the crowd in sadness, forced into exile for something she didn't do. She felt somewhat responsible, but her thoughts were interrupted by a full force steel wing. She landed hard on the ground and turned to face her attacker._

"_You did this to me!" the Skarmory who assisted with the prank yelled, "because of you, I'll soon be dead!"_

_Other Skarmory grabbed him, with their beaks, by his wings and tail and dragged him away. _

"_If I ever escape the execution, I'll hunt you down to death!" he yelled as the Skarmory dragged him to his doom._

_Her fear was ease knowing there was a slim chance of him surviving the execution, but the pain from that steel wing may never go away. _

_She kept walking and walking until she could walk no more. She found herself in a grass patch near a sandy land were a sandstorm was raging. She stared at that sandstorm for hours as she sat in her poorly made nest until someone came from the sand. _

"_Cool! A Natu!" he said._

_By his side was a Lairon and a Marshtomp who were excited about making a new friend, well, save for the Lairon. _

"_I wanna new friend! Lairon doesn't talk so much," the Marshtomp complained._

"_I do talk, just not to other people a lot and to myself sometimes," the Lairon retaliated. _

"_Actually, Marshtomp is too strong to keep the Natu conscious and Lairon is half rock, so, I'll just throw a pokeball at it and see what happens, 'kay?" their trainer said. _

'…and that's how I met Brendan,' she thought as she flew by a few Altaria.

She was the one who thought of the prank, but he made it worse. It wasn't her fault really, was it? It doesn't matter now. He's gone, and she's safe. Nothing could make her feel any guilt heavier than this…

"Hey! Watch where you going!" she heard from behind.

Winged Neo looked back to see the Altaria get pushed away by a silver flying pokemon, who jetted forward to Winged Neo and collide with her with great pain. She was knocked hard and barely managed to stay airborne after the crash, but that was no accident. It was on purpose and the pokemon felt like living steel…wait.

Winged Neo saw her attacker floating their by using his wings to stay airborne. It was a silver bird with red steel feathers covered by silver ones. It had a steel tail with a hole edged at the side and had yellow eyes. There was not a part of it's body that wasn't covered in steel.

"I said I was gonna hunt you down to death Xatu, and I mean what I say!" he said as he glared upon her eyes.

'IT can't be! He's back..?' she thought horrifically.

The Altaria who saw Winged Neo get attacked flew over to defend the Psychic type.

"Leave him alone!" said one Altaria, as he turned to Winged Neo, "right?"

Winged Neo stared in sarcasm hinting her answer.

"I mean, leave _her_ alone!"

"She did nothing to you!" another Altaria said.

"Nothing? Because of her, I was almost killed!"

"I don't know her, but I highly doubt it was her fault!" the last Altaria said.

"I don't want your opinion, I just want revenge!"

Winged Neo flied in front of them and confronted the Skarmory.

"If it's revenge you want, then so be it. If you want me dead, you can go ahead and try," she said with deep and hidden anger.

"Wait! You don't have to do this," an Altaria said.

"This is my battle, and I must finish it. I don't want you to get hurt just because you care. Just remember that no matter what, never interfere. This is something I've wanted to do for a long time," she said.

"Well said Xatu, but now, we fight!" he yelled as he jetted toward Winged Neo.

"Have it your way," she said as she flied closer to Skarmory, "and my name's Winged Neo!"

----------------------------------------------------------------

He sat there snoozing the day away as if he were in a lazy daydream. But he wasn't dreaming. He was dreaming about an important person that was in his life and who had just disappeared. His mother, a young Nuzleaf, gave birth to him at a young age. His mother never liked him, but he wanted to stay and bond with his mother, but she wanted no bonding at all. When he evolved into a Nuzleaf, his mother couldn't take it anymore. She ran away and never came back.

'Mother, what happened to you?' he thought, 'why did you run? Did you hate me? Why didn't you tell me?'

He could never forget that fateful day, when his mother ran away forever.

"_Momma! Momma!" Blackheart yelled. _

_He searched almost every, until he found her whistling with a leaf. _

"_Momma!" he yelled._

"_What is…" she said then gasped as her were eyes filled with shock_

"_Look momma! I evolved! Isn't this cool?" he said eagerly. _

_Surely enough, he had evolved, into a tree-skinned, single leaf, long-nosed, kid like pokemon. He had waited a long time for this day since he was a Seedot and discovered the facts of evolution. He was also excited that he was one step closer to the "magic" of puberty, or whatever it was called. _

"_Now I can fight better! You don't have to worry about any-" Blackheart was interrupted with a hard slap from his mother._

_He fell to the ground and almost cried when he looked back to see his mother demonically glaring at him like he was someone who she hated with great extents. She walked away in anger as Blackheart failed to understand. He didn't know why she did that, and to her own son, but maybe their trainer may have an idea. _

"_Brendan?" he asked his trainer, who was checking his pokedex and it's progress._

"_What Blackheart? I'm busy," he said impolitely._

"_But my mother hit me! I don't know why she did that!"_

"_What? Let me see," he said as he placed his pokedex down and inspect the bruise._

_The red mark on his cheek ensured that Blackheart was hit by his mother. Brendan then asked._

"_Why did she do that? Did you tell her you evolved?" he asked._

"_Yes, but she still hit me! Why wasn't momma happy?" he said feeling tears ready to stream down his face. _

_Brendan pondered a bit then got up, saying that he was gonna have a talk with Blackheart's mother. He left to go see where his mother went, so Blackheart waited, and waited, and waited some more. Finally, Brendan came back with his hands in his pocket like he wasn't gonna say anything._

"_So, what did she say?" he asked._

"…_she wouldn't speak. But I think it may be connected to the day-care," he said._

"…_can we go there soon?" _

_Brendan checked his pokenav as Blackheart awaited his answer. _

"_Sure, we have time, but in the meantime, you'll have to fight a few battles."_

_Blackheart gleamed with eagerness. Sure, he may have to hurt a few pokemon in the process, but it'll be worth it. _

_When they arrived at the day-care, the old couple wouldn't say anything about Blackheart when his egg was laid. Blackheart chuckled a bit when his trainer said that he 'isn't exactly the only one who knows what goes on behind the day-care walls' and that 'the old couple take a lesson or two from it.' But no matter how many questions they asked, they got nothing. The only pokemon who were in at the time was a Corphish, a Lombre and a Wobbufet. _

_Even though Blackheart was disappointed, he still had to return the favor of fighting other pokemon at the time. After he managed to defeat all of the pokemon Brendan wanted him to fight, they retired to the Pokemon Center, to encounter a fateful surprise._

"_Brendan!" Marshtomp ran to Blackheart and their trainer in urgency._

"_What is it Marshtomp?" Brendan asked._

"_I can't find Blackheart's mother!"_

"_What?" Blackheart said._

"_She left a note!" Marshtomp said holding a piece of paper._

_Blackheart knew her mother would write only in his language, so he took the letter and read to himself. _

_'Dear all who were precious to me,_

_I can't take it anymore. I've decided that my life was meant to be short. I had dreams and a future to look forward to only to have my dreams crushed and my future redirecting in a painful detour. This isn't the way I wanted my life. I can't stand it! Blackheart, if you're reading this, you must know that you weren't made on purpose. I wasn't ready to have you, but I did against my own will. Your father doesn't deserve anything, and you don't deserve me. It pains me to watch you grow up the right way when I failed to do so. Goodbye all who were precious to me, you will never see me again._

_Love, _

_Nuzleaf.'_

_Blackheart dropped the letter reading the final words of the letter. She was gone, and she was never gonna come back…_

'…so I was stuck with Brendan ever since,' Blackheart thought.

He knew why she left, but did she really have to run away? Was he too much to bear on her life? He sat up as all of these questions popped up in his head. She was forced to give birth to him, that may have been the answer. But if it was, wouldn't she have tried to kill him? Blackheart was under so much extreme stress, he didn't notice the yellow star figment rising from the water.

The creature watched as Blackheart thought to himself. In an instant, it rose out of the water and attacked Blackheart with a full-sledged crabhammer. Blackheart toppled a bit after the attack but managed to stabilize himself to see his opponent-out-of-nowhere.

It was a red lobster monster with a star on it's forehead, two giant pincers, a blue lined mouth, eyes partially shaded by it's red shell, a horizontal fin at the end , two small mid-legs and two burly legs. It's pincers were bigger than normal and were covered in countless scars.

"Would you mind telling me why you attacked out of nowhere?" Blackheart asked.

"Do you not know what a challenge is? I'm proposing to fight you," it said; the feminine tone in it's voice told Blackheart his opponent was a girl.

"Why? And do I know you?"

"No, but your mother does," she said with a hint of evilness.

"Wh-what?"

"Remember the good ol' day-care? It was a lot of fun wasn't it?"

"Wait, how do you know my mother?"

"Your mother was my friend's husband."

"You….mean?"

"My friend was a Ludicolo, and when we were in a day-care, he had a sudden interest in your mother."

It all made sense now. The running away, his ability to use Leech Seed, the Corphish and Lombre that were at the day-care… Blackheart was filled with an unruly rage that's very destructive inhabiting a dark type. A great black aura arose from Blackheart as his eyes burned of a great forest fire.

"Yes, I can see your hate. I sense great power from you. I hope you put up a better fight than Ludicolo."

"A better fight? What happened to my father?" he said, his voice still in rage.

"I killed him," she said with a creepy darkness in her eye, "I couldn't deny it; I was in love with him. But he went behind my back and your that proof! You're proof that my love has failed me, so the only way to completely satisfy my lust for destruction is to destroy you! You are living proof that my love's betrayal still exists! You must die!"

"I don't care if you loved him or not, or if he's my father, but no one keeps answers to questions I've been looking for!"

Both of them dashed towards the other, in hopes of killing their opponent and surviving.

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She had been searching for possibly an hour, and still no luck. Hyper didn't know why she was looking for her trainer, but if Swampert told all of them to look for Brendan then it must be pretty bad. Tree after tree she hopped on the search for her trainer, occasionally taking a break to suck on sap every now and then. She wasn't worried about being attacked by some predator or something, she was pretty strong for a Heracross. She was worried about encountering a pokemon that would fight her to the death.

'Why is the world like this?' she said as she nestled onto a tree a punctured it's bark with her mouth, 'Why must we eat one another to survive? Can't we just eat berries? I'm so gonna kill whoever came up with that 'bug-eat-bug world' crap.'

_She ran as fast as she could. _

_She didn't want to become prey at such a young age. It has only been 4 months since she was born. Right now, she was being hunted down by two Fearow's, each one aiming to drill peck through her shell. Her life was her reason to run, but their reason was for her life, and because they were hungry. _

_She tripped on a rock that came out of nowhere and fell on the ground hard. She knew the Fearow hoped for a slip-up. She braced herself for a brutal stabbing from the oncoming Fearow's and wasn't expecting anyone to save her. _

"_Yo, big birds of ugliness!" yelled some voice. _

_She looked up to see a small human-shaped pokemon like a little kid that was blue and white, a Meditite. She thought how stupid the Meditite was trying to stand up to the obviously stronger Fearow. _

"_Pick on someone your own size!" he yelled._

_The two Fearow looked at each other then bursted laughing. The Meditite then jumped in the air and kicked one in the stomach. While the other was recovering from the laughter, the Meditite side-kicked him in the face. The other Fearow got up and tried to stab Meditite with it's powerful beak, but it jumped in the air and cross chopped it's neck. The attack had killed the Fearow while the other Fearow saw his friend dead before his eyes. In a fit of rage, the Fearow attacked Meditite, but Meditite assumed a chi gathering signal with it's hands and a glint appeared in it's eyes. Before impact, Meditite disappeared and reappeared on top of the Fearow's head. He grabbed his upper beak and pulled back as far as he could until a loud cracking sound was heard. The Fearow's head plopped to the ground as the Meditite got off of the carcass and walked over to Heracross. _

"_You…killed them," she said in fear._

"_Don't mention it. I should be thanking you…wait, what did you say?"_

"_How do you live with that?"_

_Meditite shrugged his shoulders and said, "it's a bug eat bug world, better do your part, I guess."_

"…"

"_Now, if you don't mind, I'm hungry," he said as he walked over to the carnage he created._

_Heracross didn't want to be around for whatever he meant by his hunger. She walked away and to a beach where a few trees were planted. She wasn't hungry, but the scenery was beautiful at least. The sun was still in the sky and no humans were in sight. She soon heard footsteps from behind, very faint footsteps, that would belong to a small pokemon. She turned around to see the Meditite with a few blots of dirt and blood. There was a chunk of meat in his hands which he just finished off. _

"_Don't you feel any guilt from eating something else?" she asked._

"_A little bit, but you gotta do what you gotta do to survive," he answered._

"_I guess that doesn't apply to me. All I eat is tree sap," she said as he walked over and sat by her._

"_At least you have it easy, I have to kill for my food," he said, "and believe me, when someone says they could eat a horse, they could, maybe and or will eat a horse."_

_Heracross continued to look at the sea. Another aspect of nature that hides many dangers. Octillery's eating Clamperl and Krabby, Remoraid's eating flying Ninjask, Sharpedo's eating just about anything. She couldn't believe how brutal the world was, but he was right, you gotta do what you gotta do to survive, just don't be the prey. _

"_Well, I'm gonna go take a dip in the ocean," he aid, getting up, "don't wanna stay dirty forever, I believe in personal hygiene."_

_She watched as he dove into the ocean. What dangers could befall on him in the future? He saved her life, but in this world, she'd be too afraid to repay him. She didn't know what could happen. Would she survive long enough to know?_

"_Darn it! Since when was dirt so hard to get rid of?" Meditite said as he tried to scrub off a botch of dirt on his arm. _

_Heracross noticed something breaching the surface of the water. Black fins with triangles cuts at the side…Sharpedo! Heracross yelled to Meditite that there were Sharpedo in the water until Meditite noticed. However, Meditite only heard Heracross from a distant, so hearing her was a problem. When he saw one of the fins pass him, it took about 2 seconds before he realized the danger he was in. He yelped when a Sharpedo jutted its teeth out and bit Meditite. Heracross watched in horror as Meditite was pulled to the bottom of the sea. _

_Below the water, the Sharpedo was having a rough time keeping it's prey in it's jaw because it kept punching at him. Finally, Meditite's fist glowed as he punched the Sharpedo so hard, it let him go. Before Meditite was about to swim back to the surface, a whole herd of Sharpedo began to circle him. Seeing that he was totally surrounded, he focused his powers into white spheres and released them in all directions. He swam back to the surface for much needed air._

_Meditite lifted himself out of the water, and to Heracross' relief, still breathing. He turned to Heracross and said to her. _

"_Hey! Do you know any bug moves?" he yelled._

_Heracross just stood there in horror and fear, not responding to his question at all._

"_Come over here and help me! Do you really expect me to fend off all of these guys by myself?"_

_Unexpectedly, a Sharpedo bit and pulled Meditite's leg into the ocean. Heracross was frightened that he was going to be eaten, but she couldn't do anything about it. She didn't want to die because she tried to save him, but it was the brave thing to do. Meditite was frustrated with the Sharpedo biting his legs, so in an effort to attack all of the Sharpedo at once, he focused his chi into little balls of light around him and shot in all directions, striking all of the Sharpedo in the water. With the shark pokemon momentarily stunned, he swam to the surface to escape from them. When he breached the surface, he saw that the Heracross ran away. Angered, he yelled her name into the sky as the shark pokemon were ready to feed again. _

_She ran as fast as she could._

_If there was anything about survival she knew, one must save themselves by luring the predator away with something of greater value, even if it's another life. She didn't want to be a part of that philosophy, so she did the one thing she did best; run. She kept running and running until she saw some light up ahead. Her running soon turned into a walk as she carefully approached the blessing light. _

_The ruffle of the bushes alerted him of something in the forest. His pokemon jumped out to protect him from the possible enemy. His Marshtomp, Nuzleaf, Lairon, and Natu jumped in front of him as he watched the pokemon walk to them. She walked as if she were tired and hungry and looked like she was weak and defenseless. He saw the innocence and pain in her eyes and told his pokemon to step back. He noticed that this was a Heracross and was small for a Heracross. He approached her with caution as he said._

"_Hey there, my name's Brendan. Are you lost?" he asked._

_She saw that he was being careful with her, but her real attention was on his pokemon. That Natu looked to small to try and eat her; that Marshtomp didn't look so carnivorous; that Lairon seemed to be a loner; that Nuzleaf looked like it wouldn't cause any trouble with her. She must've found her place, a place away from the world. She walked over and hugged the stranger in sadness as she cried onto his chest. The movement was sudden, but he figured this Heracross has been through a lot of pain. He patted her head as he soothed her._

"_I guess you've been through a lot, haven't you? Don't worry, join me and your pain will be over…"_

'He saved me…from this world. I can't give up looking for him, I owe him so much,' she thought.

She wasn't brave enough to face this world. She'd run any day if it saved her life. She was a coward, and she accepted that. But would you be called a coward if you were staring at death in the face? She fears death almost as much as the next person, but in this world, she fears everything. She fights for her life, and that's good enough of a reason to keep fighting.

"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!" a maniacal voice that echoed through the trees was heard.

Hyper stopped in her tracks and looked around her surroundings for the source of the voice.

"I'm very, very hungry, but there's no food in miles. But just now, I've found something to eat. Mind joining me for dinner? You're the main course!" the voice said.

"W-who are you?" she asked with fear chilling down her spine.

"I'm here and there, near and far," it said sounding closer with each word, "right behind you," it said appearing behind Hyper.

At that moment, an invisible force pushed Hyper into a tree. When she fell to the ground after impact, she saw her attacker. He was a slim pokemon with red lips, black eyes, almost-natural human hands, a red cap-like headwear with two small yellow spots and three polyps on a triangular side, red pants-like clothing with thin feet and a yellow spot on each knee. He was a Medicham. This pokemon sent ice-cold fear into her body, because he had a mad look of hunger.

"Well, aren't you a delicious, defenseless Heracross?" he said.

After she stared into his eyes out of fear, she noticed that the look in his eyes could only belong to one pokemon, a pokemon who wasn't satisfied with death and hunger.

"You….you're that mad Meditite I met long ago, aren't you?" she asked quietly.

"Well, let's just say I struck a growth spurt," he said with a hint of evil in his voice.

"Why are you doing this?"

"Didn't you learn anything when we met? You gotta do what you gotta do to survive, just don't be the prey," he said with dark emphasis on the last part.

"But, I'm not your prey."

"Yes you are! I don't have to be a bird or a plant, predators are still predators, why are humans so dominant?"

Hyper didn't know what to do. She was going to be eaten by the least expected pokemon she thought of, and by a pokemon she never knew could eat her. The homicidal malice in his eyes told her he would stop at nothing until his hunger is satisfied. He licked his lips as he advanced towards the horn beetle pokemon.

"You can't eat me like this," she said, hoping she wouldn't have to fight him.

"Of course I can't. I have to beat you to death before you are soft enough for me to rip your limbs off."

Well, so much for avoiding a fight, Hyper thought. There was one other law of survival that Hyper conveniently knew. She stood up and faced the Medicham in the eye, to his surprise.

"But, isn't there another rule of survival your forgetting?" she asked.

"Hmm, now what would that be?" he said, curious.

"If all other tactics of survival fail, then the prey will fight back to the end."

"Ah, yes. How could I forget such an important rule, especially since I'm the predator?" he said managing the evil tone in his voice.

"Well, I plan on fighting for my life and I won't hold back," she said as she braced position.

"A delicious idea, but I won't stop until my hunger is ceased!" he said also positioning himself, "and this is for running away!" he yelled as he charged toward Hyper.

Hyper knew there was no turning back. She had to fight, and to the death, if she was going to survive. All of the bravery she failed to muster all of her life had breached its point at that moment. She stood her ground as he attempted to ram his fist into her stomach.

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He stared at the sky for what seemed to be an eternity. His blue draconic feathers waded against the wind. The cliff he was levitating on had a view of the whole forest and beyond if anyone was at the top. Latios began to think of his moments with his trainer and try to get his memories back while he was at it. He remembered how it happened, his feelings of failure swept through him because his existence told him. His existence was proof that he failed, and he wasn't good at existing anymore.

"_Okay guys, ready for a day of training?" he told his pokemon. _

_Each of them gave a cry in assurance as they awaited Brendan's orders. _

"_Today, we'll be doing various exercises. Jogging, push-ups, stretching, all that stuff. You guys ready?" _

_His pokemon gave another cry of assurance as they gave a positive gesture. He turned around and began running._

"_Today's first exercise is a jog on the beach. Let's go you guys!" he said as his pokemon began to follow him. _

_He ran along the beach as his pokemon followed. There were on the shores just off of Mauville city, where the thunder gym leader lived. Most of the trainers on that route watched as his pokemon followed him. His Swampert was jogging on all fours, sometimes resorting to his hind legs as he nobly followed his trainer. His Shiftry, though tough running with his wooden feet, ran with ease along the sand. His Xatu flew at a careful pace to ensure that she flew at the same height above the ground, although specific instructions from her trainer said to ascend and descend at a steady pace, which she resumed doing after reminding herself. His Heracross was to run three seconds steps, fly for three seconds then back on the ground again. His mighty Aggron was to walk, or run if he felt like it, as fast as he could, in order to help his leg muscles to dodge speedy opponents in battle. _

_Their jogging route directed into an uncharted beach where the team was stills jogging. After about 3 hours of their nonstop exercise, Brendan decided to have a little break. _

"_Okay guys, I think that's enough jogging," he said as he wiped his brow of sweat and watch his pokemon pant, sweat, and faint, "who wants lunch?" _

_After having a delicious lunch served by their trainer, the pokemon prepared for another workout by either resting or warm-up exercises. Blackheart decided to walk around a bit before beginning another exercise; he was curious of the rest of the beach. _

"_I didn't know birds sleep on their backs," he heard Swampert say._

"_Shut up," was the response from Winged Neo, who Blackheart guessed was exhausted from the 3 hour flight. _

_He walked off to a shore where the tide was beginning to settle in. the water was just inches away from the rocks that acted as a wall on the beach. He kept walking curious of what the rest of the beach looked like; of course there was a possibility of him walking until he circled the whole continent. He heard weakened cries of pain coming from ahead that sounded like a wounded dragon. Blackheart walked a bit faster wondering what the creature that made the sound was. Soon, he came upon a blue and white dragon, completely immobile, although still breathing. Surprised and not knowing what to do, he ran back to the lunch area where everyone was eating to tell his trainer of the mysterious pokemon. _

"_Brendan! Brendan!" he yelled as he waved his leaf fans in the air. _

_Brendan looked up from his kettle to see Blackheart waving at him like an idiot. _

"_What is it?" he asked._

"_Brendan, you're not gonna believe this," he said panting more than he did._

"_What could there be that I find unbelievable?" he asked. _

"_Just come here! Everyone!" he said turning to the fainted pokemon on the sand, "you've gotta come see this!" _

_He led them all to the same path he took. Eager to show what he found, he practically ran ahead forcing the other pokemon to keep up. After about ten minutes of running, everyone soon saw what Blackheart was so worked up about. Lying there immobile, was a blue legendary dragon, with jet wings, forearms, feather-like legs, and a hollow red triangle on its chest. The legendary was bruised with cuts and was bleeding terribly; there wasn't a square inch on the pokemon's body that wasn't blood-riddled. _

"_Oh…my god…" the pokemon exclaimed. _

_Brendan cautiously took out his pokedex and waited as the pokedex gave his information._

_**Latios, the eon pokemon. **_

_**Even in hiding, it can detect the locations of others and sense their emotions since it has telepathy. Its intelligence allows it to understand other human languages. They and other Latias make a small herd of only several members. They rarely make contact with people or other pokemon. They disappear if they sense enemies. **_

'_Did this one lose its way from its herd?' he thought as he closed the pokedex, 'it's too beaten up. No way could it be lost. Was it in a battle?' _

_He slowly walked over to the hurt pokemon and tenderly touched the Eon. Reacting to the contact like chemicals, the Eon opened its eyes and shot up trying to fly away. It pushed itself off the ground using its forearms and tried to fly away. The pokemon were surprised by the sudden action as they watched the Eon trying to fly away to the ocean. They watched it float off the ground then hit it over and over again. When Brendan realized it would drown into the sea if it tried to fly over it he tried to stop the Latios from flying at all. _

"_Guys, help me keep it grounded!" he yelled._

"_You heard the boss!" Swampert yelled as he ran to assist his trainer. _

_Heracross, Swampert and Titanium tried to push it onto the ground, Shiftry pushed the Eon away from the sea and Xatu was helping everyone with her psychic force. The Eon yelled as he tried to escape the clustering pokemon around him. He swung his claws back and forth in fear, one of which had accidentally clawed Swampert in the face. Ticked off, Swampert retaliated. _

"_Oh, that is it!" he said as he punched Latios onto the ground, knocking it out of its struggle as the pokemon took a second to realize what he just did. _

_Latios was knocked out cold. He couldn't remember what happened after that instant. He woke up a couple of hours later inside a Pokemon Center where the moon was shining through the glass window. He had a blanket covering his whole body from his neck to his jet-wings. Beside him was a white haired trainer looking through his pokedex. _

"_Where am I?" he thought into the trainer's mind._

"_You're in a Pokemon Center, where pokemon come to get healed. You were a bit of a handle, but we managed to get you inside," he answered. _

_Latios looked to a ball glistening on a drawer that was white, lined with black, and decorated with red triangles. _

"_What is that?" he asked._

"_That's your pokeball. See, in order for pokemon to be healed, they must be owned by a trainer," he explained._

"_Did, you say, owned by a trainer?" _

"_Yeah. You're mine now Latios, it was for your own good," he said maintaining his cool. _

"_Wait, did I do it?" _

_Brendan cocked his head in confusion, not knowing what the Eon was talking about. _

"_Do what?"_

"_No, I couldn't have failed," Brendan felt that the Eon was beginning to talk to himself, "Latias, the Soul Dew, Alto Mare, are they…still there?"_

_Brendan couldn't answer; mostly because he didn't know how. He had never heard of Alto Mare or the Soul Dew. If there was any answer he could give without disappointing him, it was no answer at all. _

"……"

"…_no. I must've failed," he began, "To save Alto Mare, I had to sacrifice myself. Because I am still alive, I must've failed. I failed everything, I failed Alto Mare! I failed Latias!" _

_Latios broke down in tears as Brendan helplessly watches the Eon mope. If he wanted to give some comfort of any kind, it was a trusted movement of the hand. Brendan placed his hand on the Eon's neck and moved it back and forth in a comforting motion. Latios noticed the touch, so he took in the comfort he was feeling from this mysterious trainer. _

"_Listen, just because you failed something doesn't mean you should always cry about it. If it's a small failure, don't even bother crying. If it's a big failure, it's okay to let it out, but not so much. You don't want to end up crying your whole life. Don't let it get to you. You've got your whole life ahead of you. Live it to its fullest."_

_Latios wiped a tear away from his eye as he looked at the trainer in the eye._

"_But, Alto Mare…"_

"_Look, I've never heard of Alto Mare, but even though it may be gone forever doesn't mean you should mope about it that much."_

"_How can you say that? There was a whole civilization there that I failed to protect!" Latios said._

"_So? Atlantis is gone and you don't see people crying about it. Same thing goes for Pompeii and the Wooly Mammoths. This was history, and all history is let by as the future makes its way to us. You have to let go of the past to make way for the future."_

_Latios carefully took this all in as Brendan watched his words work. He was right. He failed, but it's history now. But he was connected to it like father and son. But how could he let go of something he lived in for all of his life after failing to protect it? The answer wasn't the clear, but he was right about one thing; let go of the past so he could see the future. _

"_What is your name?" he asked. _

"_Brendan."_

"_Brendan, your words helped me see the truth that I was blinded from. Although it will take time for me to accept my failure and move on, I thank you. Therefore, I wish to make my life by being your trusted pokemon."_

"_You mean you're…" Brendan said not believing his words._

"_I'm willing to accept you as my trainer. You have helped me, so I want to help you."_

"_Wow Latios, I was planning on letting you go, but if you insist…"_

"_I'll be willing to fight for you, to the death if I must."_

"_Let's not get carried away there. Latios, I'm glad you're willing to let me be your master. So as your master, I want you to help me."_

"_In what?"_

"_I'm going to compete against the Elite 4, four of the toughest trainer in all of Hoenn holding pokemon trained to be strong from scratch. Me and my pokemon are confident that we will prevail, but we need one more pokemon, a strong pokemon, almost as strong as my Swampert…"_

"_Me?"_

"_Yes."_

"_Very well. I'll fight for you against this Elite 4, and I promise I'll make you proud."_

"_You've made me proud enough already," he said with a smirk itching on his face._

'...that was how I met Brendan,' Latios thought.

Brendan managed to save him from a life of sadness and mourn. He was more than happy that he was owned by a great trainer such as Brendan, but he might be even happier if he knew what really happened to Alto Mare. Until then, he'll continue to dream and wonder what could've been, even though he may never know the answer...

"Are you the great Latios?" came a voice from below.

He looked below to see a green dragonfly-like pokemon with red bug-like eyes and a tail striped green and dark green. Latios was curious of what the pokemon wanted, but didn't feel like connecting with another pokemon. However, this pokemon seemed really anxious to meet him, so he hovered off of the cliff and onto the ground next to the pokemon. Upon closer inspection, Latios saw that it was a Flygon, a popular dragon pokemon bearing the ground type trait.

"Yeah, I'm Latios, what do you want?" he asked.

"I've come for my salvations."

"Salvations?"

"Oh, my bad, I mean blessings."

"Blessings?"

Latios didn't know what this pokemon was talking about. Blessing? Did the Flygon think he was some sort of god? He knew how powerful Flygon could get, so he had to be very careful with this.

"I have no freaking idea what you're talking about."

"You mean, you don't remember?" it said in disappointment, "I saved you from dying!"

"Saved? Dying? Sorry, but you didn't do that, my trainer did."

"I found you on the beach all bruised up and bleeding! I healed you with all the healing techniques I knew! I dragged you as far from the desert as I could!" it said with it's anger reaching a dangerous level.

"Huh?" now Latios was really confused.

"When I was a Vibrava, I found you near the edge of the desert. I gave you all the berries I had and dragged you to the nearest beach!"

"But how did you do that without getting seen by people? To get to the beach nearest to the desert, you'd have to cross a town full of-"

"That's not the point! I thought if I saved you, you'd give me blessings of power like no other!"

"So you only saved me for the power I could give you? I'm sorry, but I cannot give you access to that power. I won't even give you a portion of my soul."

"But I saved you from death!"

"You should've just left me there then," he said as he floated back to the cliff.

As he floated toward the cliff, an inhaling sound was heard from behind. Soon, a loud exhaling sound was heard, followed by the blast of hot flames that struck Latios hard and painfully. The flames crackled with a sort of electricity meaning that the fire was draconic. He looked back to see the flames seep out of the Flygon mouth.

"If you won't give me power, then I won't need it if I can defeat you!" she yelled.

"Wait, first you prayed for power from me now you're aiming to kill me? Not very picky, aren't you?" he said.

"Be quiet! I wanted power from the most powerful dragon in the world…"

"You know I'm not the-"

"I said shut up! …but it turns out my efforts were in vain. If you won't give me power, then I'll keep fighting you to the death until you give me power or if I have proven myself more powerful than you."

"And how will you come to the second conclusion?"

"When I kill you!"

"Hmm, death? Or give power to him?"

"I'm a girl!" she said out loud.

"Well, I don't think I can give other pokemon power, and I'm sure as hell I don't wanna die…"

"Then I have no choice. Have at ye!" she yelled as she flew towards the Eon.

'Crap! What have I gotten myself into? I don't wanna fight, but I don't wanna die! But there's no other choice, I must fight back. I wonder if my companions are having this much trouble? I'm pretty sure Swampert is okay…'

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He slammed against the tree and fell to the ground. He was tired and battle-scarred; he couldn't be losing! He looked up to see his opponent who had been pulverizing him for the past hour. He was a green dragon-like pokemon with yellow eyes, yellow polyps on his back, a tail that looked like a leafy bush, and two sickle-like, green glowing blades on each of his wrists. He was the toughest opponent he has ever faced. Sceptile.

"What's the matter Swampert? I thought we were supposed to be equal," he said looking at the scars the mud fish was covered with while he only had a few.

"I have no reason to fight you," he said through his teeth maintaining his anger.

"Our trainers are mortal enemies; he hates him, I hate you. We fight to the death."

"But it's not like our trainers will fight to the death."

"That is where you are wrong. As of now, our trainers will meet and the final confrontation will begin there."

"You mean…"

"Yes. Only one will survive."

"You'll never get away with this. My friends will help him!"

"That is where you are wrong once more. As of now, my companions are dealing with them, one by one by one," he said with an evil chuckle.

"No…it can't be!"

"Face it Swampert. You, your friends, and your trainer were destined to die by our hands! Today is the day he's gonna end it! Today…" he said as he finished the last sentenced with an evil laughter.

Today was the greenest day of all. Each pokemon are now reliving their suffering from long ago. They need help, but they won't be getting any. But no matter how you see it, no matter how much each pokemon has suffered, no matter how much they all suffered all together, it will never equal to Brendan's true suffering. It would never equal to Brendan's struggle…

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Hmm, a homicidal Medicham, a hypocritical Sceptile, a heart-broken Crawdaunt, a revenge-seeking Skarmory, a power-hungry Flygon and a very, very pissed Armaldo. Hmm…


	3. To struggle no more, I leave

Brendan's Struggle part III

By Black Murder Heavangelon

Before I begin, let me clarify that I will include a song in this chapter called 'I Stand Alone' by GODSMACK. I do not own GODSMACK or their song, but I do own this fancy computer here. Anyway, this chapter will feature blood and murder, which was why I had to give this story a "T" rating. One more thing, I bet none of you know what's going to happen here, will ya? There might be a sequel and-oh crap!

Just….READ!

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The winds were blowing calmly as he stared beyond the edge of the cliff. The clouds were beginning to darken as his thoughts crept closer to his future that will end. His hand twiddled with the weapon in his pocket in impatience of the right time to do it. His white hair waded against the wind as his eyes looked to the bottom of the cliff. This was his day, the day he would end it, suffering and all.

He wouldn't take it anymore. Ever since his journey, he's been suffering from himself. But why was he doing it? Why would he make himself suffer throughout his whole life? Because he hated him; he hated the fact that he was him. He hated the fact he wore his clothes, he had his hair, he held his birthday, everything about him he hated. He didn't want him in this world. He wanted him gone, and today was the day that would happen.

The bushes behind him began to ruffle as Brendan's eyes flinched; it was earlier than he expected. He wanted a witness, and there he was right behind him. He didn't dare to turn around, because if he did, it would be a sign that he was afraid. He didn't want him to know that he was afraid, but the truth is, he's been afraid his whole life.

'How did he come to be?' he thought, 'Now that I think back, being born was only the beginning of my suffering.'

He remembered how it happened, in a tragic attempt to revive the lord of the land. If that hadn't happened, he wouldn't be here. But even if it didn't happen, he would still exist mentally, torturing him until the end of time. If only he had done something to stop them…

_He walked back home after the neighborhood kids rejected to play with him again. _

_None of the kids in this whole town wanted to play with him. Why? He was just a young 10 year old white haired kid living in a small town in Hoenn. It wasn't because he had white hair or anything like that; he was really freaky to the other kids. Sometimes, he would insist on telling them to cause some trouble but not just any kind of trouble. He would tell them to set fire to a tree or set off a firecracker in the middle of the town. He would even tell them to throw rocks at some windows. Luckily, the kids were smart enough not to listen to him, but the real problem was that it wasn't him who was telling them to do all that stuff. _

'_Why won't anyone play with me? Just because I'm different doesn't give them a right to reject me like that!' he thought._

'_Maybe you should get back at them for disrespecting you like that.'_

'_You…I won't listen to you!'_

'_Do you have a choice? Don't you just wanna let those kids know what would happen if they won't respect you?'_

'_But if I do that, won't they keep disrespecting me?'_

'_At least they'll know not to reject you. You can't let people reject you from time to time just because you express yourself.'_

'_But I'm not the one who's expressing myself.' _

'_But they don't know that. Why don't you let me…?'_

"_No! I won't let you take over my body!" he said, screaming his head off in public._

_Some of the people walking by saw and heard his outburst and walked away slowly from the weird kid. The children around walked away chuckling, muttering "what a freak."_

_He felt embarrassed to have exploded like that. But he couldn't help it. There was a little voice in his head trying to make him do a lot of mean things to near-innocent people, in his opinion, when he didn't want to. And if he wouldn't, then he'd offer to take over his body to do those things himself. He was really losing it; believing that there was a second soul in him. He wanted him out, but he didn't know how. _

'_It's getting late, I'll resolve this tomorrow,' he thought._

'_So, what's your mother making tonight?'_

'_Oh, I think chicken- Ugh! Stop talking to me!'_

_Later that night, Brendan had a tough time to sleep because of the 'voice' in his head. It was like he didn't want him to sleep at all. He was really frustrated, but pretty soon, he managed. But that didn't stop the voice. If it couldn't keep him up the whole night, then give him one hell of a nightmare to remember then. Brendan's nights were always this tough; there wasn't a single day of sanctity at all. It was really a miracle that he'd stayed sane throughout his whole life, but how would he become Pokemon Master if the voice in his head was trying to take the wheel? Just how long can he stay sane?_

_The buzzing noise of his alarm clock roused Brendan from his hard-earned slumber. He looked to his digital clock to see the time, 8:45. Shocked, Brendan quickly got up to put his clothes on. But then, something came to Brendan._

"_Wait a minute, I don't have a digital clock," he said._

'_That's pretty weird, but I think those steel bars and cinderblock walls were always there,' the inner voice said. _

_Brendan looked, and sure enough, there were steel bars and cinderblock walls surrounding him. There was also one small square window and the floor was cold. This wasn't his room, it was a jail cell. _

"_How the hell did I get here?" he said. _

"_We took you here," said a voice. _

_Brendan looked beyond the bars to see that there were three people standing there watching him. One was wearing red with a hood, horns on the hood, an M shaped mountain sign on his chest, and wearing a badge that said 'Grunt ranker Tabitha' on his chest. Next to the person he assumed was Tabitha was a red haired man also wearing red, an M shaped mountain on his chest, hooded like the grunt next to him, an edged caped, and wearing a shinier badge that said 'Admin ranker Maxie' on his chest. And the third person was also wearing red, but he had black hair, a scar on his left eye, a black and red suit split down separating the colored sides with a black M shaped mountain on the red side, and had a shinier badge with the words 'Team Magma leader Tommy' on it. _

"_W-who are you guys?" he said. _

"_My name is Tommy," he said, introducing himself, "this is Maxie and Tabitha," he said motioning to the other two. _

"_What do you guys want with me?"_

"_We heard of a little legend that involves you, care to hear it?" he asked. _

"_About me? What about me?"_

"_We heard that 'the black seed within the earth' has a soul powerful enough to awaken Groudon, the legendary lord of the land, if you've heard of him."_

_Brendan nodded in response to his question. He had heard of Groudon, he just thought he wouldn't hear of anything more than just his battle with Kyogre and the long sleep he took. The Magma leader continued._

"_We are on a quest to awaken this beast and control the power of the land for our own purposes. Once we can control Groudon, we can control the world, but we're only missing one thing…"_

"_Am I this 'Black seed of the Earth'?" he guessed._

"_Correct. We don't know how it could be you, but you're the seed. Maxie, Tabitha, take him to the chamber," he said as they opened the cage._

_Brendan backed away from the two men out of fear as they approached. They grabbed his hands as he struggled to let go. He gave momentary grunts of struggling as they continued to pull him out of the cage. Despite the ineffectiveness, he continued to plead that they let him go, even though he knew they won't. _

_They dragged him through a hall where other Magma members wearing the same clothing as Tabitha watched him struggle to break free from their grip. The leader told one of the grunts an order, to get a machine ready. Brendan feared that they were going to do something to him and he was betting it would hurt. They entered a dark room were a giant gun-like electric podium was pointing downward to some shackles were Brendan guessed that was where he was going. There were also some Magma grunts that were in to watch the "show". He continued attempting to break free of their grasp, but to no avail. They walked to the holding place and locked him in the shackles as they awaited for their leaders orders. _

"_Is the machine charging yet?" he asked._

"_Machine efficiency up 57," one of the grunts answered, "machine will start as soon as it has reached 100."_

_Brendan continued to struggle himself free from the shackles, but the locks were to hard. He continued to pull himself loose, but his freedom wasn't assured. _

"_Machine up at 63…69…71…73…75…"_

_With each passing second, Brendan tried harder, straining to pry himself free from his lockdown. _

"…_78…80…83…85…"_

_Brendan felt very scared. It was like he was being executed. He wouldn't stop until he was free, but that seemed impossible. _

"_87…90…93…98…99"_

_Before the grunt reached to 100, Brendan passed out. The sound of the machine humming to its power was the last thing he heard. _

_The next thing he knew, Brendan woke up in his jail cell. He felt a bit different though, like something was missing, but that didn't matter so much right now. He noticed that the Magma leader was standing by his cells bars like he was expecting him to wake up soon. _

"_So, you've awakened, my little failure," he said. _

"_Failure? What happened?" he asked. _

_The Magma Leader sighed as he began. _

"_When the machine was extracting your soul, I noticed a little problem. You began to break free of the machine's grip, and we had trouble keeping you in place. But when the machine finally extracted your soul, there was an explosion. The electric converter couldn't take the pressure your soul had, so I guessed it spat the energy out, but you were still conscious. I don't know what went wrong, but we don't have your soul, and we won't stop until we've got it!" he said with sheer determination in his voice. _

_With a snap of his fingers, he ordered two of the grunts hiding behind the walls to open the cell and bring him to the chamber again. Brendan felt too weak to fight back, so he couldn't help but let the grunts carry him out of his cell and to the chamber. He noticed that one of the grunts was the same size as he was in height, but that didn't matter. _

_They brought him back to the same room with the same grunts in it and locked him into the same place again. The leader walked in front of him as he looked at him. _

"_Don't even bother trying to escape," he said, "We made a few adjustments to the machine, and it can and will kill you. You may think it's a bit too far, but we're willing to go far enough for this. Activate the machine!" he yelled, "And don't worry, the machine was pre-charged, and you won't feel anything…"_

_The machine sent jolts of electricity into his body giving him pain everywhere as he screamed his lungs out. _

"…_after you're dead," Tommy said, as he walked away. _

_Brendan continued to scream for awhile. Before he felt like he was ready to pass out, the machine began to slow to a halt. The Magma members were confused as to what happened. The leader was now frustrated and asked one of the grunts what happened. The grunt responded saying there must've been some kind of power outage. He growled in anger and walked to exit the room, frustrated. _

"_Sir," said one of the male grunts, "I think you should come take a look at this."_

"_Great, more bad news," Tommy said as he followed the grunts to an unknown area. _

_Hours passed as Brendan lay there, locked, as he tried to regain his energy to prepare himself for another breathtaking shot of electricity. The machine hurted so much, he literally felt like his soul was going to be ripped out. Tommy said that was what the machine was supposed to do, but Brendan wondered a bit why the machine gave out when it was already fully charged. He didn't bother wondering anymore; he could hear the footsteps coming in through the door, believing that it was Tommy who was really anxious to see him suffer again. If three times weren't enough to satisfy him, Brendan thought, maybe he'll try to revive me then kill me again the fourth time. _

_Instead, an ordinary grunt rushed through the door, panicked, as he tried to catch his breath. _

"_Tommy! …he's been…he's…" he attempted to say, gasping in between. _

_Unfortunately, he didn't finish his sentence, for that a loud bang was heard from behind him and looked as if he saw the roof imploded. He fell to the ground with a dull thud as a figure holding a gun stood behind him. The other grunts were shocked to see this mutiny within their own headquarters; despite their evil ways, killing their own was a sin deeper than murder. _

"_You…you killed him!" one of the grunts yelled. _

"_Tommy's gonna be so pissed when he finds out!" Maxie yelled as he himself looked just as pissed._

_The murderous grunts only smirked, his eyes overshadowed by the hood he wore, as he walked to the left revealing the shadow of Tommy from the hall lights. _

"_I don't think Tommy will care at all," he said, as the shadow that was once Tommy, fell to the ground bleeding, lifeless, and revealing a knife sticking out of his back. _

_All the grunts stared in shock as their leader was, already, hopelessly dead. Brendan stared in shock as the scene before him was actually real. It felt like he got the front row seat to a melodramatic horror film. But this was no movie, this was life. It was time he started to taste his future, and this would be considered a lethal dose; something Brendan would never be able to recover from. _

"_He's dead…" another grunt spoke out loud, "you killed him…you bastard! You ungrateful bastard!"_

_He only gave a laugh, a laugh so hideous, it was like by dying, he gained Tommy's hideous cackle. Once he slowed to a halt, he looked to them._

"_Do you really think I care?" he said, "I don't care what you think of me! Nor would Tommy have thought of you! You all brought this upon yourselves, and by doing so, revenge will be served!" he said out loud with an evil smile._

"_Revenge? What revenge?" one of the grunts said._

"_Yeah, what did we do to you?" another grunt asked. _

"_Not me," he said, holding out six pokeballs, "Tommy."_

_He threw the pokeballs into the air, summoning six pokemon the grunts knew well; the pokemon that belonged to Tommy. A Mightyena, a Crobat, a Rhydon, a Tyranitar, a Sharpedo, and a Scyther. _

_The Mightyena noticed the scent of blood in the wafting air and noticed the carcass of his dead master. Soon, all the other pokemon saw the corpse and gasped in terror. The Scyther looked to the grunt in front of him in question. Then, before instinct kicked in, he yelled out loud, pointing to all the innocent grunts._

"_KILL THEM! KILL THEM ALL! THEY KILLED YOUR MASTER! THEY DON'T DESERVE MERCY!" _

_It finally clicked in for the grunts. They were being put to blame for a crime they didn't commit. And the worse part was, they were highly trained pokemon. They could easily rip a man to shreds in a second. Fear painted itself upon every face in the room except for the true culprit. _

"_KILL THEM ALL! …except for the boy," he said, referring to Brendan, who the pokemon could easily know who he was talking about. When it comes to revenge, only a pokemon knows who deserves it. _

_The first to jump was the Mightyena, who began to rip off the shoulder of the nearest grunt. All other pokemon followed, attacking any grunt they felt needed to suffer first. Brendan watched as the bloodshed happened. Blood, blood everywhere, and soon his would be shed too. The grunt walked through the hell as he was left untouched by the pokemon. He walked up the stairs leading to Brendan's prison and horror-with-a-view. He took a key out of his pocket and began to undo the locks that confined him. Scared, Brendan decided to ask anyway. _

"_Why are letting me go?" he asked._

"_I can't let these guys have all the fun. I wanted some of the blood too," he said, keeping his evil smirk._

"_You're a monster," Brendan spat back. _

"_Now, now, there are no such things as monsters, only monsters on the inside. Brendan, you had a monster."_

"_Had?" Brendan asked. _

"_Yeah. The monster inside you was slowly consuming you. Soon, you would've given in to his evil and do his bidding. Killing people left to right, soaking in their blood, hearing their young cries of pain, it was only a matter of time."_

"_H-how…how did you know?" he asked as the grunt finished undoing the last lock. _

"_Let's just say…I am my monster," he said, revealing his silver eyes from his hood as he looked at him, "Now, we must go, before the police come."_

"_Police! You called the police?" he asked. _

"_Nope, they called us," he said as they walked through puddles of blood and into the hallway. The grunt picked up the knife that he had stabbed Tommy with earlier, "They found the base, it won't be long before they manage to get in. you're wearing red and black, which isn't a good thing. They'll suspect you to be one of the members, and shoot you down to death."_

"_Got any bright ideas then?" he asked. _

"_Of course. I'll cover you with blood, scratches, rip a few portions of your clothing and you'll be off the hook, since you actually are innocent."_

"…_well, if it's the only way…"_

_The thought of being covered in blood wasn't exactly pleasant. He felt even worse knowing that it wasn't HIS blood, more like blood leftovers. The knife the other grunt held had a rigged side, capable of imitating a scratch from killer pokemon. He also did the work of tearing bits of his clothes to boost the 'I-got-caught-in-the-middle-of-a-fight-between-two-insane-Scyther' look. Once he was covered in blood, scratches, and his clothes were a mess, he literally looked like he'd been through hell and back, which is also ironic since the bloodshed was still going and they had to go back to get the blood. _

"_Now remember, you must look like you've seen a ghost," the grunt said. _

"_Just why are you helping me?" he asked, finally irritated. _

"_Because," he said, turning to him, revealing those silver, evil eyes, "if you were going to suffer, it'd be by my hand. Only your blood will satisfy my hate. Only your life is what I'm willing to take."_

_Brendan figured it out now. He never wanted to save him, he only wanted to let him live until he had the chance to kill him himself. It was one of those natural things that occur when two people, who hate each other to the greatest extent, end up helping each other only if it means living another day to hate. But what confused him was, why does he hate him? What did Brendan ever do to him?_

"_Now go, they're coming any minute now," he said, pointing to the long white halls ahead._

_Brendan was about to ask what about him, but decided to drop it since he would end up wanting to kill him sooner or later. So he ran down the halls in means to escape, escape this hellhole, escape the bloodshed, and escape from him. He no longer has the heart of a child, more like the eyes of an assassin. His face was plastered with experience and unwanted bloodshed. In a way, he grew up, but not for the better. He would be forever haunted of this day and forevermore the rest of his life. Little did he know though, was that the haunt, wasn't over…_

_He was found by the police later outside of the base. His parents where with them, in search of their missing son. They were afraid beyond belief when he saw them, and he swore their fear rose when they saw the condition he was in. Well, it was all over. The pokemon were captured and sent to be put to sleep, the bodies were collected, and only one grunt managed to escape, who was put behind bars for being the admin of Team Magma. Brendan was asked of questions of what went on in there; he tried to sound frantic but managed to tell them everything. Well, except for the mystery grunt who saved him. Who knows? Maybe he'll never see him again. _

_He walked into his parents' car as it started up and took Brendan home. He looked back at the base and wondered if it was all for real. When he did, though, he saw the same grunt who helped him out of the base standing right there. His sinister smirk stayed on his face as the car slowly drove away. _

'_I wonder who he was,' Brendan thought as his view of the grunt was slowly dissipating. _

_Then, as if by a wish come true, the grunt removed his hood as Brendan perked up, curious, to see the grunts face. But in a split second, he regretted it. The hair, the smile, the face, all of it, was deathly haunting. His face was beyond impossible, but there it was. All but the eyes were so similar. It haunted him to know that the one person who wanted to kill him so badly…was himself. He was standing right there, yet, sitting there looking at him. There was no use denying it, it wasn't some dream. Brendan was standing before Brendan right before him. _

'_Just you wait Brendan,' he thought, 'you're nightmare hasn't ended yet.'_

"So, how long has it been since we last met?" he asked as he still faced the sea out before him.

"Possibly about three months, at least," he replied with the same voice with sinister, yet, rusty voice, as if he were the very image of an evil villain.

"I know you've been following me…"

"And you've been running…"

"But now, I stand here to face you, I stand here in front of you," he said as he turned around, "and this time, I stand alone."

Before him was the spitting image of the champion himself, the 14 year-old, white haired boy, with a new look to differ himself from him and Brendan. He wore a green headband instead of his red headband, an all black sleeveless shirt instead of his red pokeball patterned shirt, orange fingerless gloves instead of his red and yellow fingerless gloves, and carried a green single strap backpack that was different than his orange one. It was like looking into a mirror, a green mirror.

**Now I've told you this once before **

**You can't control me **

**If you try to take me down you're gonna pay**

**No I feel your every nothing that you're doing for me **

**I'm picking you outta me**

**You run away**

"I see you have changed your outfit a bit," he said.

"I decided it was time for a change. I didn't want to look like you when I finally killed you," he said.

"You know pokemon aren't evil enough to kill a human, there's just no will to it. Killing me with them will only result in backfire."

"Who said I'll have my pokemon to do it?" he said, making Brendan feel uncomfortable since he wouldn't be using his pokemon against him, "besides, Pokemon can kill other Pokemon, right? Well, mine are busy…"

Brendan's eyes widened, knowing that his pokemon where in grave danger. His fists clenched in anger as he eyed the doppelganger in front of him. He's using his pokemon to destroy his most beloved pokemon of all. Taking advantage of the date this day held, almost as if he was planning it all along.

"You bastard. Did you know I would be alone, sending your pokemon after my pokemon one by one?" Brendan asked.

"Yes, it was quite obvious. But, my pokemon have a bone to pick with yours. Your pokemon have a very good reason to fight if they want to stay alive," he said.

'Great, he chose the six pokemon who have a grudge against my pokemon,' he thought, 'I ain't going down, though. By the name of my pokemon, I'll fight to the death if I have to.'

**I stand alone! **

**Inside**

**I stand alone!**

He walked towards the 'mirror' Brendan until he was about a few feet apart.

"Well, I suppose that would apply to us right now, would it?" he said.

"Are you implying on a fight?"

"It's my turn now to be chasing you. I've been waiting to get rid of you for a long time now."

"And so have I. You aren't worthy of wearing my face, now are you?"

"It's my face, and I'm about to ruin yours!"

Brendan threw a quick punch at the other Brendan's face who didn't do anything to dodge, he just stood there and took the punch. However, Brendan realized that his face barely flinched from the blow; he kept the expression steady as if the punch wasn't there. He looked and the fist on his face and scowled at it. As Brendan removed his hand from its place, the copy Brendan (A/N: who I'll refer to from now on) turned to him, resuming its original position, just with a different expression.

"Now, Brendan, you know you can't bring pain on yourself," he said, keeping his slit-eyed scowl expression, "you need other people to do it for you," he said as he pulled back his fist and threw a punch at his face.

This time, the blow did some real damage. He landed hard on the ground and was clutching his cheek from where the fist had landed. He looked at him, the copy, who kept his dull, bored expression on his face as he crossed his arms.

"Seriously, is that the best you could do? I thought this would be fun, but oh well."

**You're always hiding be-hind your "so called" goddess**

**So what? You don't think that we can see your face?**

**Resurrected back before the final have fallen**

**I'll never rest until I can make my own way**

**I'm not afraid! Of fading! **

**I stand alone. **

He had pummeled him in the most brutal way he could ever imagine. He'd try to fight back, but it was just no use. Every attack he'd made would be stopped by a counter attack. It was absolutely hopeless to win. All the desire he had to destroy him had vanished. If only his desire was stronger…

"Get up, you pathetic waste of carbon," the copy said as he stared down said carbon.

He looked up at the copy with great hate, but found no will to attack. Whatever he had build up enough to steal a gun had suddenly disappeared. It was as if he saw this coming and accepted it.

"You're just accepting your defeat as you accepted your future," the copy said , "What happened to all that hate? What ever happened to that stupid will of yours to destroy me? If you have no reason to fight me back, I guess you have no reason to save your pokemon," that's what pressed his button.

Brendan immediately shot up and gave his most powerful punch he had ever thrown. Though the copy barely moved from his spot, it was powerful enough to change the expression on the copy's face from a sinister smirk to a pissed scowl. Brendan removed his fist from place as he watched his head regain its previous position. Brendan smiled to himself as he saw some blood slipping from his mouth.

"I'm guessing your will has awoken?" the copy asked.

Without answering, Brendan resumed attacking the copy. The Copy managed to block all the attacks and countered an uppercut he threw at him. He was about to flip him onto the ground when Brendan planted his feet on the ground, twisted his waist, crashed onto the ground along with the Copy. He immediately shot up, grabbed both of his arms, and pulled from behind as his foot pushed against his back. He had him trapped.

**Feeling your sting down inside of me**

**I'm not dying just yet! **

**I! Stand Alone!**

**Everything that I believe is fading! **

**I stand alone.**

**Inside…**

**I stand alone. **

"How does that feel?" Brendan said, pulling harder as the Copy Brendan groaned in pain, "Painful? Maybe I oughtta dislocate your shoulders or something?"

"Actually," the copy said through teeth, his voice sounding like he's recovering from the damaging effects of the hold, "You're the one who should feel pain."

Suddenly, the copy pulled himself forward quickly, relaxing his shoulder muscles in a more recognizable position, causing to pull Brendan forward. Using the momentum, the copy threw his head back into Brendan's ribcage. Brendan fell back painfully as the copy lifted himself up and pulled out a knife, a vaguely similar, blood red knife. He walked up to the clutching Brendan and stared at him, diddling with the knife in the meantime. Brendan instantly recognized the blade, the same blade he used to kill Tommy.

"A blade can have many a history Brendan Birch," he said, "It can hold one drop of blood or have shed thousands of blood. No matter what, blood upon a knife marks the madness of a murder. No person is innocent, as everyone has held a blade that holds at least one blood shedding. Who's blood is to be shed next? Yours."

He attempted to stab at Brendan on the ground, but Brendan quickly rolled out of the way. Brendan stood up and faced the madman that was him. The copy came at him with the blade and tried to stab him, but Brendan quickly moved to his right and elbowed the back of his neck. The copy wasn't gonna give up yet. He landed his left foot hard on the ground and turned around, realigning the knife, and tried slashing Brendan blind. He missed as he was nowhere to be found, but he was immediately elbowed in the neck again. Now know what to do, he did the same thing, but this time, he'd make a full circle. He missed again though, which confused him until he looked down where Brendan was crouching. He shot up like a bullet and punched the copy in the jaw, but the copy held strong and since Brendan was defenseless, now was his chance. He swung his blade down with as much speed as he can muster and slashed Brendan's left shoulder, rendering his left arm useless. The copy laughed to himself as the blood dripped from the blade and onto the ground along with some water. Water? The clouds were getting heavy and sooner or later, it rained. The copy laughed to himself as he saw Brendan clutching his bleeding shoulder in the rain.

**And now it's my time (now it's my time)**

**It's my time to dream (my time to dream)**

**Dream of the sky (dream of the sky) **

**Make me believe that this isn't plagued by the poison in…me**

**Help me decide if my fire will burn out before you can breathe. **

**Breathe into me. **

**I! Stand alone! **

**Inside**

**I stand alone. **

"Heh, how does that feel," the copy said walking towards him as he backed up, making sure the shoe was loose, "Painful? Maybe I should dislocate those shoulders or something?"

"Actually," Brendan smirked as he was assured his shoe was loose, "you're the one who should get a taste of the pain."

Brendan immediately kicked towards the copy's face, who expected something like that. However, his shoe zoomed right into his face, unexpectedly grunting in the humiliating pain. The copy accidentally dropped the knife when the shoe connected. Brendan quickly grabbed the knife with his still well right arm, got up and slashed across the copy's right shoulder. He shrieked in pain as Brendan turned around, stabbing him in his left shoulder, rendering both useless. The copy fell on his knees, exhausted, as the rain poured upon both of them. The copy looked at Brendan with so much hate, it wasn't funny.

**Feeling your sting down inside me**

**I'm not dying just yet!**

**I stand alone. **

**Everything that I believe is fading…**

**I stand alone.**

**Inside…**

**I stand alone.**

"Damn you, how could you have overpowered me so easily?" the copy asked.

Today was the day. The day he would finally end it. His suffering. His misery. His struggling. He's been nothing but a struggle, an obstacle, in his life. He's wanted to remove him for a long time. He had been struggling forever. Now, today's the day he's gonna end it. Today's the day he ended his suffering.

He pulled out the gun he had been holding the whole time and let the copy rest his eyes on it. The clouds had blocked the sun, giving him a poor view of the weapon in his hands. When lightning flashed, the copy saw the gun and instantly knew his demise was waiting for him.

"So, you have the finishing weapon?" he asked, "Very well. I should've seen this coming. Go ahead, pull the trigger…"

Brendan obeyed and pointed the gun directly at his head as he slumped, accepting his fate.

"But before you do," he interrupted, "know that your struggling will never be over! There will always be a new struggle in your life. And no one will come to save you…"

Brendan didn't reply. It was pointless to tell him what he would've said, but didn't say anything, knowing he wouldn't listen.

'And when that struggle comes, I'll destroy it, and move on…' Brendan thought.

**Inside…**

**I…stand alone.**

**Inside! **

**I! Stand alone! **

**Inside!**

BOOM!

The gunshot echoed throughout the entire forest. The wild bird pokemon, alerted by the sudden blast, flew away quickly through the rain, abandoning the battle between the greatest of struggles.

He had no idea how long he had been wandering the forest. All he knew was, that the cut the copy made on his shoulder was big, and sooner or later, he'll die of blood loss. He had to find his pokemon, but he was wondering if they were still alive at all. From what he was told, they were fighting for their lives. It's not like he doubted them, he was just worried that he wouldn't find them in time. But if they did lose…then hope was lost.

Up ahead, he saw a blue figure standing over a red and green figure. Upon closer inspection, he saw his Swampert looming over a bleeding Sceptile. It looked like he was talking to the Sceptile; some sort of final saying before the Sceptile dies. But Brendan didn't care; his Swampert had survived. He walked closer to his Swampert slowly, adorning the site before him. His Swampert had defeated a highly leveled pokemon all by himself. Inside, Brendan was proud.

The blue mudfish then noticed Brendan standing there, smiling at him, and noticed all the blood he was in. Panicked, Swampert ran to his trainer over the bleeding grass pokemon. Seeing the bloody gash on his masters' shoulder made him fear of an unwanted demise. He looked at Brendan with great concern, feeling as if he should call the other pokemon for help. But before Swampert could ask what happened to him, Brendan fell to the ground, giving in to the fatal blood loss. He lay there, lifeless, as Swampert stood there, shocked, wishing it was all a nightmare, as Brendan's body continued to lie. His world went black, his body was bleeding, and his soul was lifeless…

His world was fading, away from his entity. He could no longer feel any life in him as he carried his cold body deep in the forest. He held back his tears as long as he can, he didn't want to cry just yet. He wanted to share his tears with his friends, his partner pokemon, to strengthen the mourn they had. But no matter how much they would cry, he wouldn't come back. He tried to be the best pokemon he had ever had, and Brendan was proud of that. But he's gone, all those beautiful memories, hastily thrown away in a matter of minutes. He tried so hard to surpass every pokemon he had encounter, but now, he couldn't try anymore. There was no more reason to keep trying to surpass other pokemon, because he wouldn't be able to see it. Swampert had no reason to see anything right anymore…

He found his friends together, all beaten up and wet due to the pouring rain, tending to their own wounds they had obtained from pokemon they all knew. They were discussing how it was possible that all of them had fought a pokemon they had angered in the past. Swampert decided to slowly walk in, letting his friends see what he was carrying since he didn't want to say anything about what happened. The first to notice was Winged Neo, sensing his presence easily by detecting his mind. She was about to greet Swampert, but her world suddenly faded as she saw the body he was holding as he frowned grimly.

Soon, everyone took notice of Swampert and the bleeding Brendan, and devastation swept through them all. Eyes widening, nerves tensing, hands shaking, denial…all these feelings began to build as their eyes lay still upon their masters' bleeding corpse. They wanted to know who did such a vile thing, but no words could be spoken, just curiosity and revenge.

"Wh…what happened to him?" asked Hyper, devastation filling her voice.

"I…don't know. I found him like this… He must've been fighting someone while we were……" Swampert trailed off, knowing that his friends would get it.

"So, it was an ambush?" Latios said, deep anger beginning to stir in him.

"Sw…Swam…pert…"

Swampert looked down to see that his master had woken up and was looking at him right now. His eyes told him he was still alive, but barely. Brendan didn't have much time left, but he won't leave this world without telling his pokemon his last words, now that his struggle is finally over.

Swampert easily let Brendan on the ground and held his head up to hear whatever his master wanted him to hear. His pokemon slowly walked up to him and listened to what their master wanted to say. But each word he spoke brought pain in their hearts as he spoke in grim, dull whispers.

"…my time has come…" he whispered, "…my struggling is over…I am finally happy…I can finally rest…"

"No…you can't leave us yet!" Hyper said, developing tears in her eyes, "thanks to you, I finally know what it means to live in this world and face it head on…"

"I finally understand how important friends are…" Titanium said.

"I've finally decided to rid myself of the mourn and live on with life. How am I able to live with this?" Blackheart asked.

"You accepted me no matter what I thought or what I said. You know me for the pokemon I am. I can't live if you aren't there to accept me," Winged Neo said.

"You taught me to let go of my past and make way for my future. This was what I wasn't looking forward to in my future, now how do you expect me to live with it in the past?" Latios asked.

"Brendan, you can't leave us yet. Look what you've done for us, to us. You're too valuable for us to lose," Swampert said, feeling his tears begin to gather.

"…I'm sorry guys…didn't know you felt that way…"

"Didn't know?" Blackheart bursted, "you were practically the only trainer who could accept us."

"…I only wanted to help you guys…" he said, beginning to smile but couldn't because of his pain, so he just grinned sheepishly, "but you guys made me…so happy…the pokemon who…I underestimated…"

This was bad. Swampert noticed he began to pause in between sentences more. He's losing his link to this world!

"No Brendan, you're the one who made us happy," he said, "I could never be able to repay you for what you've done for us. We owe you so much Brendan, just live a little longer for that…just live…" his voice was beginning to crack.

"You guys…all I wanted…was for you guys…to be strong…I never wanted…you to…repay me…can you at least…promise me…you'll stay strong?"

"Yes, we will stay strong," Hyper said, beginning to cry herself, "I'll train everyday just for you. I won't stop until the day I die. I'll even try to learn that move you couldn't afford to teach me…"

"Don't…over…do it…You guys…helped me…end my…lifelong…struggle…Now…if you really…love me…just let me…rest…for a while…" he said as he closed his eyes.

"No! Brendan wake up! Wake up dammit!" Latios roared, panicked.

"…Sorry…I have…to leave…"

"Don't Brendan! Don't leave!" Winged Neo yelled, already breaking out in tears.

"The sky…it weeps…for me…yet it urges…me to leave…and leave no…regrets…"

"Don't say things like that!" Titanium yelled, "No one wants you to leave! We want you to stay!"

"My time…is near…my page…has been read…my chapter…is over…my book…has ended…my saga…is finished…my hourglass…is empty…"

"No…Brendan…" Swampert said, hoping this wasn't the end.

"My only…regret…is…that I…must…leave…this world…without…my…love…expressed…to…the…one…girl…I…"

"Love? Brendan, who is she?" Swampert asked.

But when he asked, he got no answer. That was it…it was over…he was gone…and he wouldn't be coming back. The quiet that haunted the pokemon that moment was a silence that would haunt them forever. Their trainer, no, master, has vanished. He left them, with his words of happiness, and his life was finished, before his struggle finished him.

"Brendan?" Swampert asked silently.

Swampert touched his master and felt…it was cold. Cold like the rain that plagued them. Cold like the ice that crept within the shadows of fear. Cold like the world and its undying hinder of unpunished evil. Brendan was cold, drained of the warmth of life…

The pokemon dropped their heads in sadness as they saw their master leave this world with his final breath. His body still had the smile that he left them, and soon, the smile turned into a faint, dead, blank nothing. Swampert would never be able to forget this day, the day where his master had died right in his very arms. The one trainer who chose him, he was his first pokemon, and he would never be able to let go of this unforgettable burden on his shoulders. With every last bit of sadness, Swampert yelled to the heavens, in mourn, of his masters' death.

"BREEEEENDAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAN!"

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Breaking news broke out all over Hoenn, interrupting the casual family breakfast most families would have in the morning. Hoenn wasn't prepared to face what the news had in store for them, for that this wasn't just some breaking news, it was to announce the finding of a young, white-haired, 14 year-old pokemon trainer.

'_We interrupt your morning rituals to announce that police have found the body of a young boy. You may be wondering who this boy is, well, you'll be shocked to learn that the boy is none other than Brendan Birch, Hoenn champion, resident of Littleroot Town. _

_Police found the body by detecting unusual weather in the vicinity of Route 113, where a thunderstorm unexpectedly broke out, possibly caused by a pokemon. Other unusual weather from the same area attracted policemen's attention when the weather randomly broke out into sunstorms, rainstorms, hailstorms, even sandstorms! _

_Police went to investigate the abnormal weather conditions and found the body of Brendan Birch. Along with his pokemon, all near-fatally injured, police contacted hospital for backup. The six pokemon had suffered burns, electric shock, brutal cuts in the torsos, and rock-hard punches seen imprinted into the pokemon's flesh. The Nurse Joy's claims that it will take a couple of weeks to fully heal the pokemon back to full health. _

_While the Nurses where tending to the wounded pokemon, doctors did their best to revive Brendan from his fatal wounds. His parents were contacted as soon as possible as the doctors were on their way to succession._

_Funded by Prof. Birch in his attempt to revive his son, doctors were able to save Brendan. Doctors now claim that he'll be making a full recovery by the end of this month, which is miraculously speaking seeing how the boy himself suffered fatal blade wounds. _

_Police don't know who could have been responsible for the near-death beating of Brendan Birch, but when authorities asked Brendan for questions before his surgery, he claims that he can't remember the whole incident. He says that he remembers everything else, he just doesn't remember what happened to him. It may be possible that this is the work of Team Magma or Aqua, but until authorities have their suspicions confirmed, the boy will remain in the hospital until then._

_Let's all pray that the young boy makes a full recovery. Back to you John…_

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He began to stir into the sunlight and opened his eyes. The white ceiling blinded his vision momentarily, but managed to adjust to the white room he was in. he sat up and found that he was hooked up to a few machinery detecting his heart pulse, breathing capacity, and a life-support stand. His parents were sitting by him, looking worried as they were working on some papers. His mother was the first to notice him sitting up and perked up in glee.

"Brendan! You're awake!" she said.

His father, the great Prof. Birch, noticed and shot up to give his son a hug. His mother joined in and held on just in time for the doctor to come in with some hospital food.

"I got some food for…Brendan! You're up!" he said, setting the cart somewhere else.

"How are you feeling sweety?" his mother asked.

"Wh…where am I?" he asked.

"You're in the hospital, remember?" his father said.

"Remember? Remember what?"

"He still can't remember what happened," the doctor said, "it'll take some time before we can get something out of him. Fortunately, one of the Nurse Joy's managed to heal one of his pokemon to optimal health."

"Pokemon…?" he asked.

Brendan realized none of his pokemon where with him. He looked panicked and was about to ask where his pokemon was when the doctor presented it before him.

"He'll be alright," he said handing it to him.

"Wh…which pokemon is he?"

"Your starter," he answered.

He looked back to the pokeball and sighed in relief, muttering that he was glad that he was safe.

"The rest of your pokemon are being worked on. Sooner or later, they'll be back to full health," the doctor said.

Brendan now looked confused. He can't remember what happened to his pokemon, only that they were fighting. The doctor looked concerned and asked his parents to follow him outside. Before he left, he told Brendan to be thankful he was alive. When they left, Brendan looked towards the window to see the sun rising. Putting his pokeball down, he stood up and walked towards the window to see the view the hospital garden below. The pokeball behind him wobbled and released the pokemon inside, who stared at Brendan.

"It's good to see the sun again, isn't it?" he asked.

"Yep, if only it wasn't raining," Brendan said.

"What do we do now?"

"Well, we'll wait until I get better. But once we get past that, we'll see what comes next."

"It was a tough battle, wasn't it?"

"Yeah, I really thought I was going to die."

Silence passed between the two as he looked out to the sun. as time passed, the pokemon behind began to get impatient until he asked what to do for real. He gave no answer and only continued to stare at the sun, his eyes filled with the thought and foreboding of what could've been. His eyes of silver…

"Well Brendan," he said, "you make it all too easy. And to think I was going to go down first."

"Are you saying he's still alive?" the pokemon, his Sceptile," said.

"Barely. The scars I left should've killed him from major blood loss, but he's somehow still clinging on. His pokemon were too beaten up to recover, so I don't know how long he'll last. But his life force isn't holding on much longer."

"So as time passes…"

"He's slipping from this world, piece by pathetic, little piece. He should've known, that his nightmare was just beginning."

"So now what do we do? Seriously."

"Like I said, we'll wait until I've recovered. But once I do recover, I'll be free. And I think I know who's life to screw around with now."

"Who?"

"He's in love with a girl, a girl named May. I find her and make her fall back in love with "me". once I do, I'll crush her weak soul and advance to every last person Brendan ever knew, killing them off one by one, starting with the girl."

"But what about Brendan? He might live long enough to stop you."

"And what will he do? He has no medical treatment possible and by the time he catches up with me, everyone he knows will be dead."

"I only have one question: Who will be the last one you will kill to satisfy yourself once and for all?"

He gave some thought to that, and came with an answer.

"Myself…if you know what I mean."

…end?


End file.
